


But I Don't Mind

by xxjewelbox



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Asexual Elsa (Disney), F/F, F/M, Found Family, Useless Lesbians, other characters show up and maybe play for a little bit but do i even tag them?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:01:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23250643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxjewelbox/pseuds/xxjewelbox
Summary: Elsa has done it. She’s got her dream job taking care of the penguins at the Arendelle Zoo, reconnected with her long-lost sister, and she’s even begun to do this crazy thing called therapy. She’s thinking that she’s starting to have this whole adulting thing down, but then when she meets Honeymaren, she wonders what the hell she was doing before.Alternately: Elsa has to realize that self-care is about more than bath bombs and seeing a therapist twice a month. Not that romance is the end-all, be-all of humanity, but sometimes someone else coming into your life and loving you will thaw even the thickest walls
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa & Kristoff (Disney), Elsa & Rapunzel (Disney), Elsa/Honeymaren (Disney), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 91





	1. She'll Keep Me Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dating is hard. Dating women, even harder. And Elsa kept on doing it at the behest of her loved ones, like a freaking idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why yes, I am starting a second ElsaMaren fic because I needed to write something not as brain-heavy as "The Ice Witch" is gonna be. (doing my best GRRM impersonation is hard, folks). I'll figure out a writing schedule to handle the two, because I honestly don't want to abandon either idea.
> 
> So this fic spawned off of basically my entire relationship with my therapist, because Frozen-mania opened my eyes to how much Elsa resonated with me over these past several years. And while Skype-meeting with my therapist during this pandemic, I got mojo to write this.

Elsa should probably spend her lunch break anywhere else but the petting zoo at work, but it was her chance to warm up mid-day, check her phone, and share her snacks with Nokk. It wasn’t that Nokk was her only friend at work, it was just that she just preferred to spend time with the Fjord horse. Besides, Kristoff (the actual only friend Elsa had at work) was busy with Marshmallow the polar bear who had been acting strange. “There you go, girl,” she hummed as she held out an apple for her equine friend.

She couldn’t help the smile and giggle that burst forth as she could feel Nokk lip at her palm and snatch up her treat. That was her rationale for coming here for her lunch breaks – how could this gentle giant not improve even her worst moods? Elsa could hear her therapist’s rebuttal, however. _“You say that about all animals, Elsa”_.

That was the current battle Elsa was engaged in, trying to explain that she was _happy_ with animals. That she didn’t get a snowball in her gut sometimes when she was the fifth wheel for Anna, Kristoff, Rapunzel, and Eugene. Or that the snowball didn’t appear when she saw a couple that tugged on her heart strings _just so_. She was adamant that she was fine, while her therapist simply gave her a look that made Elsa stubbornly double down on her claim.

As if knowing that Elsa was trying to convince herself that she didn’t need a relationship, her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. With a sigh, the blonde pulled out her phone and held it at an angle, showing the screen to Nokk as if the horse could read.

> **Punzo:** what’s ur type again?
> 
> **Snowgie:** no.
> 
> **Snowgie:** no.
> 
> **Snowgie:** no. no no no no no nooooooo
> 
> **Punzo:** U R NOT ALLOWED TO “NO” THIS ONE WITHOUT ONE DATE
> 
> **Snowgie:** fine. then hell no!
> 
> **Punzo:** come on, she’s nice! seamstress, has great taste in shoes, and loves animals!
> 
> **Punzo:** one date, for me, please?!?!?!?!?
> 
> **Punzo:** PLEASE??????
> 
> **Punzo:** don’t make me send my sad and adorable pics of olaf and max!

Elsa sighed and turned to look at Nokk. “What do you think, girl? Should I? Just to shut Rapunzel up for a little bit?”

Nokk simply snorted and headbutted Elsa, more interested in searching for another apple than giving love advice. At least if she was eating lunch with Kristoff, he would answer for Nokk, in that silly adorable way of voicing all the animals they worked with that even Elsa had to smile at. He (well, “Nokk”) would probably say something about simply trying so she could get out there, not to roll over to Rapunzel’s heavy-handed meddling.

Frankly, she could have done voices for all eighty penguins in her exhibit and each one would have a different argument on how Elsa could respond to the group text. Her therapist would say that eighty is a tad excessive and probably symptomatic of overthinking the situation. Which, considering how long she had been seeing Elsa, she should know by now that overthinking is one of her specialities.

What harm could come of saying ‘yes’ just this one time? Say yes, go on a completely dull first date, report back to her sister and cousin on exactly why she had felt no spark with a merely lovely girl who also was interested in her – yes, she could do that, and then go into the thirtieth (at least?) explanation to Rapunzel about why dating was not the best idea.

“I think I’ll say yes.” It was a statement just to lock her choice in. One of the tricks she had learned; if she made it out loud, then she couldn’t back down from a verbal contract. (To be fair, this strategy didn’t always work, but it was certainly better than waffling over the idea the rest of her day as she over-thought it only to then come to the inevitable conclusion to not go) “After all, what’s the worst that can happen?” Elsa asked nobody in particular, simultaneously shoving down every negative worst-case scenario preemptively. Her therapist would be proud.

Looking down at her phone again, about to send a reply to Rapunzel, the blonde realized that her lunch break was just about over anyway, so her response would have to wait a bit longer. Which was fine, Rapunzel _deserved_ to be antsy and wait for a response for once in their friendship. Even if in the meantime she would do something they would all regret due to her impatience, but that was a different matter.

Cradling Nokk’s face in her hands, Elsa gave the equine a quick kiss in farewell before turning away to start packing up the remnants of her lunch. The repacking was quick, as she didn’t eat much of her food anyway.

As she finished checking her area for trash, her phone buzzed once again, and the blonde reached for it, flipping it onto its back so she could read the screen. Another text, this one once again from Rapunzel.

> **Punzo:** by your silence, either you’re accepting this or having a panic attack
> 
> **Punzo:** please let it be the first
> 
> **Punzo:** i will cancel on her if it is the second

With a sigh and soft smile, Elsa really couldn’t be mad at her cousin, and quickly typed her response.

> **Snowgie:** one date.
> 
> **Snowgie:** and no more set-ups for at least 3 months
> 
> **Punzo:** deal

One date. What really could happen?

\------🐧👮🏽‍♀️------

Well apparently, the date could turn out to be an absolute disaster, without Elsa having to even be the tiniest bit awkward.

It had started out not-terrible yet not-great; Elsa had met her date at Oaken’s (thank you Rapunzel for letting Elsa have home-court advantage), and they’d started talking and eating, and actually having a nice time. No sparks (for Elsa, at least), but Ella – the seamstress – was sweet and lovely, and had been in the middle of trading sewing tips with Elsa when she froze mid-sentence and looked like a deer caught in a semi’s headlights. With a whispered and too-brief explanation – limited to the words “ex-husband” and “hide me”, Ella had escaped into the women’s bathroom, leaving Elsa to stay at the table and not look like her date had just run off.

Which apparently only attracted said ex-husband’s attention. And made him decide to stride over towards the table and start demanding that Elsa bring him to Ella. All Elsa could do was try and play dumb, which only aggravated the man more. And, well, any drunk, aggravated man who wasn’t getting his way would default into histrionics.

A scene that got Oaken’s attention, and before too long, the police had arrived.

The moment the older cop had put the handcuffs on Ella’s ex-”prince charming”, Elsa let out a breath that she hadn’t felt like she was holding. She knew the night wasn’t over yet – far from it – but the sense of comfort at knowing law enforcement was doing its job helped a lot. The older cop’s partner – a young woman about Elsa’s age with a dark braid and a warm smile that probably contributed to Elsa’s comfort.

By now, Ella had timidly returned from the bathroom and was talking to the young officer – her name plate read “Nattura” – giving her statement. And Elsa, Elsa just was waiting to be able to leave and start the second interrogation that she knew was going to come from Rapunzel (and Anna if she decided to not wait until tomorrow).

“That was very brave of you, Miss …” The blonde’s attention was snapped back to the present as the cop’s voice broke through her reverie.

“Agnarrsdatter,” Elsa supplied, realizing that her “attention” had been on the cop’s face the entire time, which caused her to blush lightly and turn her head. “I don’t like bullies, especially ones that pick on women.” A bit of an overshare, but for Ella’s sake, Elsa felt like she had to qualify her response. It had nothing to do with the cop’s entrancing eyes that reminded Elsa of a shade of dark chocolate she compared all chocolate to. _Nothing_.

Thankfully, if her stare had gotten noticed, nobody chose to say anything, as Officer Nattura closed her notepad and dipped her head in salute to the two civilians. “That should be all, Miss Agnarrsdatter. Your statement should be enough, so, uh, you take care,” the cop stated, and Elsa looked over at Ella – who seemed a little shaken but overall more relieved than anything.

“Thank you, Officer.” It was all Elsa could say, really, as she wasn’t familiar with the police officer and it had been hers and Ella’s first (and only) date. Collecting her coat, Elsa fished out her wallet and pulled out what she hoped was enough cash to cover hers and Ella’s bill plus a generous tip to thank everyone at Oaken’s for putting up with the scene. “Text me later, okay?” she asked, turning to Ella, getting a nod in reply before Ella and the officer started talking some more, leaving the platinum blonde with a very clear sign that she was supposed to leave.

Shouldering her coat, Elsa breezed out of Oaken’s and onto the sidewalk, turning to head to her apartment for a glass of wine and yelling at Rapunzel about setting her up on dates with women that had _baggage_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm basing the zoo Elsa works at off of the Detroit Zoo, aka my local zoo, which is actually really cool (the Polk Penguin Center is breathtaking, especially – I could spend all day in it and I am not obsessed with penguins. Also, time to watch Frozen, Frozen 2, and Tangled on continuous loop and also listen to soundtracks until I get fics done


	2. Honey I Don't Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honeymaren needs a work-life balance, and Ryder comes to the rescue with such a thing by bringing her into his newfound group of friends from his dream job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this chapter half-written when I posted chapter 1 earlier, so I wanted to continue this to kind of further help set up things? At least, to set up the beginnings of this slow burn because I can be rude like that *insert evil laugh here* Thanks for the comments and kudos so far and I hope this doesn't disappoint!

Honeymaren loved her job, and she loved it the most when she got to arrest real assholes who deserved it. And tonight had been one of those nights, where she and Mattias got to arrest a guy who had violated his restraining order in following his ex-wife. He’d caused a scene at a restaurant and the owner had called it in. When Maren and Mattias had gotten there, the ex-wife was hiding in the bathroom and her friend – girlfriend? date? colleague? – was in a stare-down with him.

It had been a pretty straightforward call, and the “friend” had downplayed her role in everything, but Maren had appreciated it nonetheless. Her first look at the platinum blonde woman – Elsa Agnarrsdatter, as she found out later – had been of her in a fraught stare-down with the drunk perp, but her body language was firm and reminded her of Ryder when he was showing animals who the boss was. And she further reminded Maren of her brother when she went from tough to gentle with the victim. Maybe-girlfriend was still on the table for the two of them, but despite the smiles and care, Maren definitely didn’t see sparks between the two.

Not that it was any of her business. She just liked to think that she was good at reading people.

Beyond that call, however, the rest of her shift had been painfully dull. Helping a few drunks, pulling over a few speeders, and writing out a glorious amount of paperwork. She got to talk with a detective who ended up catching the violated restraining order from earlier that night for some follow-up, but at the end of it, she was happy to be done.

Because done meant she got to go home and use what little personal time this job left her to tease her twin brother and maybe get in some FaceTime with her elderly aunt. And done meant that she got to do anything else besides fricking _paperwork_.

Due to the hours her current shift had her on, Maren was usually getting back at her apartment by the time Ryder was waking up, so she got a chance to see her favorite human, albeit briefly. And, right on cue, she opened her door to find Ryder sitting at their small kitchen table, looking over a piece of paper while he shoved a piece of toast into his mouth.

“Hey baby brother,” she greeted, for Ryder to respond with a huff and his predictable food-in-mouth muttering about how she was only ten minutes older, not ten years older, before he grinned up at her anyway.

Muttering done and mouthful being swallowed, her twin looked up at her with a big grin on his face. “Hey!” He sounded excited, more full of energy than he did on most days, and that gave Honeymaren pause. When Ryder sounded like that, he either was plotting some way to prank her, or he had good … 

“Oh crap, is your interview today?” she asked, kicking herself that she didn’t get to practice with him, or make him some good-luck breakfast. As it was, he probably was on his way out to crush this job interview, and she wouldn’t find out what happened until later.

Ryder nodded gleefully, and washed down the remnants of the toast with some orange juice, “Petting zoo manager at the Arendelle Zoo! It’s a slight downgrade from the last place I worked at, but I get to work at _the Zoo_!” He’d been doing so well at the farm he worked at, but she could see him draining each time, and despite the fact that a cop and petting zoo manager didn’t make that much money, she encouraged him to quit his job and find something more worthwhile. The Arendelle Zoo job had been the one he had his heart set on, and Honeymaren wanted nothing more for her brother than for him to get this newest dream job.

“You’re going to kick butt,” she gushed, starting to hype her brother up while also entirely believing he would get the job. Ryder had a gift with both animals and children, and while he probably could have become a zookeeper or something cool like that, he was more of a hands-on learner versus school, which put him on a specific path – which he still loved.

Ryder’s phone went off and he grabbed his cup of OJ and chugged it down, setting the empty glass down to replace it with the copy of his resume in hand. He then jumped up from his chair and went barrelling towards the door, pausing only to give his sister a kiss on the cheek. “Love you, please clean the dishes?” were his last words as the door shut behind him, leaving Maren alone in the kitchen, realizing that she was both hungry and tired – and she wasn’t sure which was going to win right now.

\------🐧👮🏽‍♀️------

Three weeks later and Maren swore she was going to murder her brother if he said one more thing about working at the zoo, and about having “the best coworkers ever”. Not that she was unhappy about Ryder having his dream job and making friends – as long as the friends were human and not of various animal species – but it really rubbed it in that her schedule had made it much harder for her to have friends right now.

She had just finished her rotation of night shifts, and she was looking forward to being able to enjoy time with Ryder as well as finding whatever semblance of her friends that hadn’t abandoned her. However, her twin was making it hard, as he was spending a lot of time with his new work friends, and their adjacent group. Again, it was _fine_ that Ryder had his own life now, and maybe Maren was just taking out her own frustrations about her lack of work-life balance on someone who didn’t deserve it. Which was entirely unfair.

Sighing at herself, Maren’s attention came back into focus, only to see that Ryder was staring at her expectantly. Oh shit. She missed something, and now she either could admit that she was beating herself up about something, or try to play it cool and risk looking like an ass. Technically, a lose-lose situation.

Crap.

“What did you say?” she queried, hoping that Ryder wouldn’t pry as to where her attention had run off to.

Blessedly, his face melted into a smile as he held up his phone. “Kristoff invited you to game night on Friday, can you come?” Oh. _Oh_. Was he taking pity on her friend-situation (or lack thereof)? Or was he trying to make up for the time they had missed when she worked nights? Who was she kidding, this was Ryder, he probably never had heard of “pity” in his life. “Anna bought a new Jackbox game pack and they wanted to see if you’d join.”

Oh yeah, definitely not pity. Considering the invitation briefly, Maren nodded her head. “Okay, I’ll come.” If Ryder liked these people, then the least she could do is give them a try. Besides, they worked at the zoo, how bad could they be? “But you better not let me look like a complete fool.”

If Ryder’s smile could have gotten bigger, Maren was absolutely sure it did as he turned his phone back around and sent a frantic text to his friend. “Oo, this is going to be so much fun,” he gushed as he typed.

And, unconsciously, Maren found herself smiling as well. Her brother was many things, and right sometimes was one of them.

\------🐧👮🏽‍♀️------

By the time Friday had hit, Elsa was sure that Ryder was going to burst from anticipation as he, Elsa, and Kristoff all sat at a picnic table eating their lunches. While the petting zoo caretaker had been an excitable person in the three weeks that Elsa had known him, he was practically vibrating at this point. Ever since Kristoff had texted Elsa to inform her that Ryder was bringing his sister to game night, Ryder was acting like a kid on Christmas Eve who wanted nothing more than for Santa to come.

And so he had spent a lot of the week telling Elsa and Kristoff about said sister. Chiefly, that she was his older twin (by only ten minutes), she was much prettier than him, she moved to Arendelle before him so she was more comfortable in the city, she loved action movies (especially the classics), her favorite color was blue (specifically, the blue of an autumn sky without a cloud in sight) was brutally good at trivia, that she was a cop, and she was probably the best friend anyone could ask for. Kristoff would give Elsa a smirk each time Ryder extolled another one of his sister’s virtues, and the blonde would roll her eyes in turn behind Ryder’s back. After the last failed date with Ella, he should know better than to try and insinuate to Elsa that she could date someone new. Besides, Ryder didn’t mention that she was gay or straight or anything really. Because Anna honestly had to be the only sibling whose favorite hobby was trying to hook her sister up on a date.

“I know it’s at your place tonight, Elsa, but is there anything we can bring?” Ryder asked as Elsa took a bite of her sandwich. Using the momentum of chewing for some time to think about it, Elsa tried to think about what she didn’t have already (not much), and what she wouldn’t mind not being in control of.

Even just by knowing Elsa for less than a month, Ryder knew that if Elsa was in charge of something, then chances are it was going to be well taken care of, but the fact that he was asking tugged on … something in Elsa’s brain. Like a lesson her mother taught her long-ago that she kept close. _If someone asks what they can bring or brings a gift, you know that they have a generous heart._ “Something to drink would be nice, thank you,” she decided after finishing her bite. Usually Anna and Kristoff tried to bring beverages, but it’d be easier for newcomers to integrate into the group bearing alcohol. “Oh, maybe some dog treats or toys if she wants to make friends with the dogs,” Elsa added as an afterthought.

Without dimming his enthusiasm, Ryder nodded his head. They were going to nail game night, and Maren was going to love him for introducing her to his friends. He just knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next up ... game night!


	3. All in Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Game Night is upon Elsa and Maren; and Maren gets absorbed into the group immediately – but most importantly, she makes an impression on Elsa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I intend on this taking as long to write? Nope. It was an admitted struggle, but I like to think I did pretty okay with this. Mostly because I had told myself that I wasn't going to indulge any other fic ideas, but literally all I could write about for this work week were the fic ideas that I have to indulge later.
> 
> I just want to thank all of you guys. Because as I mentioned at the start of The Ice Witch, I am an "essential worker" in an "essential business" during these times, despite the reduced workload we have (I work at an outpatient surgery center). So, the fact that I come home and write these stories with characters I love, and I have all of you enjoying my updates, it provides a certain lightness to my heart during all of this. Seriously, it's helping me so much with how I could be negatively handling the events going on. Your kudos mean more to me than I can say during this time.
> 
> Sap moment over, let's smush these little useless lesbians together!

Elsa was floating around the kitchen, finishing whatever preparations she could side-by-side with Rapunzel. Between the two of them, they were the undisputed queens of hostessing – with Elsa’s attention to detail and Rapunzel’s skill in the kitchen – so all that was left for Eugene to do was keep all of the pets occupied before the guests arrived. It was an easy pattern the three of them shared, all living in the same brownstone.

“Els, can you grab the nachos out of the oven?” Rapunzel called over her shoulder as she mashed up some avocados for guacamole. In a well-practiced dance, Elsa grabbed an oven glove, dodged around Rapunzel’s back to get to the oven, pulling it open and deftly pulling out the tray. She set the hot tray on the stove right as Olaf came running in, with Maximus hot on his heels.

The two large dogs slid along the hard floor of the kitchen, with Eugene close behind. “Guys! Let’s go outside!” he shouted after them. Hearing the magic _o-u-t-s-i-d-e_ word, the canines changed direction almost on a dime (how they could be so agile for being so large always made Elsa chuckle) and sprinted towards the back door. Eugene Fitzherbert, however, was not as nimble, and slipped more on the floor before finding his footing and bringing up the rear.

All in all, the incursion lasted less than two minutes and didn’t ruin the easy dance the girls had in the kitchen; Elsa at work with the nachos and adding all of the toppings they had chopped, and Rapunzel mixing the guacamole. While this kind of stuff wasn’t Elsa’s forte – she was best with anything involving chocolate, if anyone in the group was being honest – she could assemble, and working shoulder-to-shoulder with her closest friend made it easier.

Truthfully, Elsa was probably really good at assembling nachos, since she had a much better eye for spreading the toppings around in the right combinations for their guests, whereas Rapunzel was definitely more likely to dump. 

Not that Elsa was _trying_ , since that would be absurd that she was trying for their newest addition. Well, maybe trying a little bit, since she did want to make a good impression and not disappoint Ryder. Of course, Rapunzel would probably try and make it into a _thing_ , which would earn an eyeroll from Elsa. Which was why Elsa had only mentioned that Ryder was bringing “someone”, without any further details to tempt the shark that was Rapunzel’s (and Anna’s) romantic streaks.

Blissfully, the doorbell rang at the same moment Elsa finished sprinkling cheese on top. “I’ve got it,” she claimed, bumping Rapunzel with her hip before turning and walking through the living room to the front door.

It couldn’t be Anna and Kristoff (with Sven), since it was still early. And Elsa loved her sister, but punctuality was not her strong suit, despite Kristoff’s best efforts. So that meant it had to be Ryder and his sister, which was probably a good thing – to get both of them settled before throwing her to the wolves. As she walked, Elsa smoothed out the front of her shirt and ran a hair over her ponytail, a habit from years of having to make herself presentable that Rapunzel would probably tease as trying to primp up for a girl (again, curse that girl’s incessant romanticism). Once Elsa decided she was ready, she reached for the door and swung it open, revealing Ryder and a woman who looked exactly like Ryder except … feminine and extremely gorgeous. Great, best not let Rapunzel get any ideas in her head.

No matter, Elsa wouldn’t let some outrageously perfect face crack her cool facade. “Ryder! I’m so glad you made it,” she greeted her coworker and company with a warm smile, “and you must be Maren. Ryder’s told me so much about you.”

\------🐧👮🏽‍♀️------

Maren was standing next to Ryder, holding a six-pack of wine bottles in one hand and a six pack of an IPA that Ryder was currently obsessed with in the other, and when the door swung open, she was sure her eyes could’ve bugged out of her head or her jaw dropped, because standing in front of her was quite possibly the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen in real life. And there was no way that Ryder was actually _friends_ with someone that gorgeous. It was impossible. He was like her and would have acted like a complete fool.

But sure enough, The-Woman-Who-Makes-Natalie-Dormer-Look-Like-The-Ugly-Duckling smiled at them and Maren could only smile back and hold up her offerings. As if she understood, The Supermodel stepped to the side and waved the twins in, reaching to grab the wine six-pack as Maren walked past her.

“Hi, thanks, thanks for having me,” Maren stammered as Holy Shit inspected the wine Maren brought. “I grabbed some of everything – two whites, two reds, a rose, and a bottle of mead for fun,” she explained as the blonde slipped behind Maren to close the door behind them.

“Thank you, Maren. This was very thoughtful of you. I’m Elsa, I work with Ryder at the Zoo,” the blonde introduced herself, holding out her right hand in introduction.

Realizing she needed to be polite, Maren thrust out her hand in return and shook it. Almost immediately, she worried that her handshake was too hard, too firm, but when she looked down, Elsa’s hand didn’t seem to look smashed at all. And the handshake was … nice. Very nice, like Elsa went to the same handshake school she did. Not that handshake school was a thing. More like a life lesson thing. Oh god. She was rambling. In her head. She needed to say something. Anything.

“Penguins, right?” Oh god could she have said anything other than that? No, of course not, because her brain was short-circuiting because of too much beauty and how caffeine Maren was. No, wait. Because of how much pretty Maren maybe had and how Elsa was so coffee. No, still wrong.

 _Get it together, Nattura_ , she scolded herself mentally. This was game night, not a first date. And Maren still really needed friends.

Thankfully, Elsa picked up the cue of conversation from Maren and nodded her head, placing a hand on Maren’s lower back to guide her farther into her home. And somehow, in some absolutely crazy universe that they were living in, that motion and that contact kicked Maren’s brain back into the game and she returned to the Land of Working Brains.

“Yeah, penguins,” Elsa confirmed as they walked. “And Ryder said you’re a cop? That must take a lot of courage,” she continued thoughtfully, “let’s go set these on the table and introduce you to Rapunzel.” Ryder had already gone to sit on the couch, already of the house rules that people didn’t just wander around.

Maren nodded and shrugged in agreement (later realizing that she just let the conversation _die_ ), and the pair kept on walking until another blonde’s head poked out of the kitchen.

“Hey, Snowball, that can’t be ...” the blonde – this one a much more of a gold versus Elsa’s platinum so pale it might as well be white – spoke up before she trailed off at seeing Maren for the first time.

With the lull, Elsa took the initiative of an introduction. “Maren, this is my cousin, Rapunzel. Punzo, this is Ryder’s sister Maren.” As if on cue, Rapunzel’s eyebrows raised imperceptibly, which cued Elsa to furrow her own eyebrows into a glare behind Maren’s back in a silent conversation. Typical Rapunzel. “She brought lots of wine,” Elsa added while holding up said wine, which got a wide grin from Rapunzel.

“Oh, we’re going to like you just fine.” With that, Rapunzel popped back into the kitchen.

Maren stood there, letting the cousins talk while only offering a wave. She figured that there would be plenty of time to talk and get to know each other over game night proper. When Elsa kept on walking, Maren followed, setting the six-pack down at the same time Elsa set down the wine on a table that was covered in glassware, appetizers, plates, and napkins. Even without whatever it was Rapunzel was cooking up in the kitchen, going hungry didn’t seem to be something that her hostess planned on.

Speaking of hostess, Elsa had started opening one of the bottles of red and reached for a glass. “Wine?” she asked Maren, her hand hovering in anticipation.

“Oh, no thank you, I don’t really drink. Water’ll be fine for me,” Maren declined, watching for Elsa’s face to warp into judgement as it often did when she met new people her age and told them she wasn’t much of a drinker. Instead, Elsa’s face stayed as warm as it had been so far, with the blonde withdrawing her hand.

As if she had remembered her manners (although really, Maren would argue that Elsa’s manners were impeccable up to and including this point), Elsa stepped away from the table and beckoned Maren to follow her. “Here, let me give you a brief tour,” she invited. It almost would’ve thrown Maren’s cop brain through a loop – _who shows a stranger around their house?!?_ – but then she remembered the idea of the bathroom and was quietly grateful that she wouldn’t need to be awkward in asking for it later on.

With a murmured ‘thanks’, Maren followed the blonde, looking around distractedly as Elsa was saying something about something. It wasn’t saying anything about Elsa being boring, it was more like something Mattias said about her inspecting a situation. However, she was brought back to the present when she collided softly into Elsa’s side, suddenly realizing too-late that she had stopped walking.

Oh right, _bathroom_.

Thankfully, Elsa didn’t seem too upset that Maren had tried to slightly-bulldoze her, but the apology was cut off before it even began when two large dogs – a stunningly beautiful white German Shepherd Dog and powerfully built Norwegian Elkhound – came scampering towards them from what must have been the back door. With the canines dancing around Elsa’s and Maren’s legs, Maren looked down and realized that this was what Ryder had meant about bringing dog treats. Treats that were still in her pocket.

“Olaf, Maximus, _down_!” Elsa commanded in a tone that the two instantly obeyed. Seeing that the pets were sitting properly, she looked up to check that Maren wasn’t afraid. Instead, she saw a face that had more of a realization dawned upon it.

And before she could introduce them, Eugene walked up and broke the moment. “Hey,” he greeted with his “smoldering” look. With a roll of her eyes, Elsa smacked Eugene's shoulder and it snapped him out of it. “I’m Eugene, Rapunzel’s lesser half. And these two handsome dudes are Maximus and Olaf,” he introduced and extended his own hand in greeting.

Maren gratefully extended her own hand to shake Eugene's. “Maren,” she responded in kind, “Ryder’s sister. Thanks again for letting me come.” With the handshake, Eugene pulled away and started heading towards the rest of the home, leaving Elsa and Maren alone with Olaf and Maximus, who were still sitting and waiting for a treat they must have assumed one of them would have. Remembering, Maren dug into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a bag of bully sticks that she’d gone to the pet store specifically for. “I, uh, Ryder said something about dog treats,” she explained with a smile and shrug.

Hearing the plastic of the bag and seeing _treats_ in Maren’s hand, both tails started wagging furiously in tandem, a furry set of windshield wipers for the wood floor.

Elsa, for her part, smiled even wider at the idea of this perfect stranger even listening to an off-hand suggestion about the dogs. “Well, they’re going to be your best friends forever now,” she responded. The blonde just watched Maren as the other woman ripped open the bag and fished out two of the sticks, taking note that she was still so remarkably calm. Probably a good thing she was a police officer, then. “You can just say ‘gentle’ and they won’t nip when taking the treat.”

“Olaf, _gentle_ ,” Maren instructed as she held one of the treats in her extended hand, unable to restrain the childlike grin that spread across her face as the Elkhound reached his head forward and daintily removed the bully stick before trotting off. And, not wanting to deny the Shepherd any longer, Maren reached out the other treat and commanded, “Maximus, _gentle_ ,” as the large white dog mirrored Olaf and followed him.

The silence that fell between Maren and Elsa was warm, and in another time she would have sworn that there was _something_ hanging out there. But she pushed it down in the back of her mind, as if by instinct. Game night and friendship, not a time to let her sex drive ruin something great for Ryder.

Thankfully, the silence was snapped by a cacophony coming from the front door. At hearing the voices (and added dog bark) that arrived, Elsa gestured for Maren to follow her. “Well now that Anna and Kristoff have finally decided to show up, now we can get started.”

Without much of a choice (not that she was angling for one), Maren followed Elsa to finish meeting Ryder’s newest friends. She was so going to give him shit later for leaving her alone with the impossibly beautiful Elsa. Lots of shit.

\------🐧👮🏽‍♀️------

Four hours later and Maren didn’t want game night to end. She could easily see how Ryder had fallen in with the group, and how easily they had brought him into their ranks; it showed how easily she fit in after one night.

They’d gone through most of the games in Anna’s jackbox packs, and they had just finished yet another round of Quiplash (which had been won by Ryder, surprisingly) when Olaf nosed at Elsa’s hand. Having interpreted Olaf’s signal as his need to go outside, Elsa excused herself from the next round to stand up and start heading towards the back. Elsa’s extrication had disturbed Maren’s perfectly cozy space on the couch. Taking that as her cue, Maren stood up as well to excuse herself to go to the bathroom.

Maren followed behind the three dogs – Kristoff had brought his dog Sven, also a Norwegian Elkhound and Olaf’s littermate – who padded along behind Elsa. Instead of passing the bathroom, she walked in. Faintly she could hear the sounds of the rest group starting its new game as she relieved herself and washed her hands.

Instead of turning back to join the rest of the group, Maren turned in the other direction, opening the sliding glass door and slipping through the opening where Elsa and the three canines were. She slid the door closed behind her and Elsa looked up, smiling when she noticed that it was Maren who came out. The two had proven themselves to be oddly alike over the course of game night, which only made Maren want to spend time with her outside of the whole finding-Elsa-super-attractive thing. She knew it probably made her fall in danger of turning into some kind of walking lesbian cliche, but still.

“Hey,” Elsa greeted softly, as one of the Elkhounds – probably Olaf – looked up to inspect the visitor before deciding that Maren was safe and resuming his sniffing.

Maren responded with a “hey” of her own, shoving her hands in her pockets and wandering closer to the blonde. “I know I don’t have to thank you, but thanks for tonight. And Ryder. He’d left most of his friends when he came to the city, and I had a string of bad shifts with work that I didn’t get to spend much time with him. We both needed to meet people like you guys.” She needed to express her gratitude, as the feeling had hit her a few times during the night.

Elsa, for her part, didn’t try and shut down Maren’s feelings, but instead smiled sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders as if it was no big deal. “I get it. I know that in there, with my sister and our friends, I’m one person, but if it wasn’t for them, I’d be an even bigger introvert,” she replied.

The idea made sense to Maren, even if she was much more of an extrovert, and she spoke up again before she could overthink what she was about to say. “Do you want to grab coffee sometime? We both could use a friend we’re not related to, so, why not each other?” Maren suggested, rushing out the second question so Elsa wouldn’t think she was _asking her out_ or anything weird like that.

She meant it, the two of them probably could use the friend, and being friends with someone as put-together, kind, and stupidly gorgeous as Elsa would only prop up whatever friendship cred she had in the world. But she was worried that she’d come on too strong, and immediately started to (predictably) overthink her proposal, when Elsa’s honey-coated voice broke through her mind’s panic.

“I’d love to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So y'all thought I was going to make this easy for our lovebirds, huh? PSYCHE! (oooo, now that would be an interesting AU) But really, this is just going to be the start of these two useless fools, especially since I have a whole list of ideas for little moments for these two so I have plenty of ideas, just, now I need to write them all.


	4. Ask Her How Much Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can six days be the longest week ever? Possibly, especially when Elsa and Maren are texting, because it helps bide their time until they meet, but also makes it seem even farther away with their anticipation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: has a whole chapter written
> 
> *does a read-through to double check the chapter*
> 
> also me: decides to rewrite the entire chapter just because i felt like it
> 
> So, I know I've expressed that I've wanted this fic to be slow burn, but the slow burn on "The Ice Witch" may actually kill me if I do 2 slow burns at once. These two may get together sooner, but it's definitely going to be ... subdued? IDK the word I want to use exactly, but I guess keep it in mind that Elsa in this fic is asexual and that will impact a lot. It MAY turn into unintentional dating

Ryder and Maren were the first to leave Game Night, and she knew she would see Ryder at the zoo, she was glad that at least she got Maren’s phone number before they left. The other woman was interesting, based on the small talk they had exchanged, and for the first time in a while, Elsa was excited for the idea of getting to know someone new.

Of course, that didn’t stop Rapunzel and Anna from corralling her in the living room when Flynn and Kristoff started to clean up, stopping Elsa from going and helping. She let out an exasperated sigh at the coordinated effort between them.

“ELSA!” Anna practically shrieked in glee, ignoring the concept of personal space entirely once she saw her sister’s defeat and grabbed Elsa’s arm to guide her onto the couch. She first gently pushed Elsa to sit on the couch first, following to plop down on Elsa’s right, with Rapunzel mirroring the action on Elsa’s left.

“Anna,” Elsa replied, forcing a deadpan into her voice.

“You and Maren,” Rapunzel added, giving the icy blonde a look that was a more exaggerated version of the eyes from earlier in the night. Leave it to the blonde to throw the innuendo into Elsa’s face, whereas Anna would’ve stumbled into it while trying to be more circumspect in her concern for Elsa’s love life.

Honestly, the two were incorrigible in this regard. “We’re going out for coffee. _As friends_ ,” Elsa explained not needing to even look over at Rapunzel to see the completely aghast and possibly disbelieving face she was making. “She needs a friend outside of her job, and I’m finally taking Gerda’s advice on a new friendship.” The magic word of ‘Gerda’ seemed to do it for the other women, beating their eagerness down.

“Well, I for one like her. We should keep her, whether as Ryder’s sister or … whatever happens,” Anna announced, leaning over to give Rapunzel a look, which told Elsa that the other blonde was having trouble keeping in just exactly what she wanted Maren to become. As if to make a point in agreeing with Anna, Elsa turned her head to affix Rapunzel with a glare of her own in agreement.

“Yeah, she’s _Ryder’s sister_ ,” she added, emphasizing that Maren was Ryder’s sister first, which at least earned some version of a contrite look from Rapunzel. Even if they all knew that the look would be gone and forgotten within twenty-four hours.

And, as if on cue that the subject had been effectively dropped, Elsa’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She stood up and started walking to the kitchen, pulling her phone out and unlocking it to see the text message she received.

> **Maren:** thanks for agreeing to coffee

Elsa smiled softly, halting in her tracks as she typed out a response.

> **Elsa:** you say that like you twisted my arm
> 
> **Maren:** if you’re into that
> 
> **Maren:** that was not meant to be pervy, i swear!
> 
> **Maren:** pls don’t think i’m a creep

The blonde practically choked on a laugh at Maren’s responding, worried texts.

> **Elsa:** for the record, not into that
> 
> **Elsa:** but i don’t think you’re a creep
> 
> **Elsa:** yet 😋

Before Elsa could wait for a response from Maren, Kristoff walked past her from the kitchen, calling for Sven so they could go home. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and followed her sister’s boyfriend. Anna was getting her coat on while Sven sat patiently at the door. Once Anna saw her reappear, she shuffled over to engulf Elsa in one of her trademark massive hugs, that Elsa returned just as warmly if not as intensely.

“Sunday dinner, like always?” Anna queried, as if there was going to be a different answer to the question.

“Of course,” Elsa affirmed. Sunday dinner between the sisters was one of the traditions they had developed since rekindling their relationship that everyone knew not to intrude on. What had once started as Elsa bringing dinner and groceries over to Anna when she was in law school to ensure that the younger sister ate had grown into weekly dinners for them, now catered by Kristoff.

“Love you.”

“Love you more.”

“Love you most!” they heard Rapunzel shout so she could be heard in their hug, which made both sisters chuckle and loosen the hug to allow the other blonde to join in.

\------🐧📱👮🏽‍♀️------

Saturdays were slow for Maren and Mattias in their squad car, spending most of it on traffic violations. The weather was beautiful for once, which meant that people were trying to enjoy it, and not ruin their weekends with an arrest or fine. Well, at least they were trying to avoid the nice weekday _morning_.

Thankfully, Mattias waited until they were seated for lunch at his partner Halima’s bakery to ask about the previous night. In the years of getting to know his young partner, he worried about her social life. Even he didn’t like spending all of this time with fellow cops, and he didn’t want Maren to fall into the same trap many of their fellow officers had. It was a big part of why he pushed her to meet new people.

“So, how was it?” he asked over his mug of coffee, chuckling as Maren was jarred out of her single-minded enjoyment of her sandwich.

Maren wasn’t going to admit that she had gotten distracted trying to think of a perfect opening text to start talking to Elsa today. Ryder had been so annoying on their way back to the apartment as they were leaving Elsa’s, insisting that Maren had been staring at Elsa with “heart-eyes” all night long. He would have started singing ‘ _Elsa and Maren sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G_ ’ but Maren punched him hard in the shoulder before he could get the first off-key note out.

“How was what?” Maren asked, confused what the older officer was talking about.

“The big night. Game night with Ryder and his new friends,” Mattias supplied, hoping to jog Maren’s memory to get details.

Of course Mattias wanted to know. He cared about Maren, and she also hadn’t shut up about it all of their Friday shift, especially since she had been mildly panicking about what drinks to bring. “It was great!” she nodded enthusiastically. “Kristoff, the zoo veterinarian that Ryder’s newest best friend, is a lot like Ryder. It’s like someone made a photocopy of Ryder and had it on the lightest setting,” she chuckled at her own description. “And his girlfriend, Anna, greets everyone in hugs. And they’re bone-crushing ones too. And then there were Rapunzel and Flynn. Rapunzel made the most bomb-dot-com nachos and apps. Seriously, Halima should look this girl up. Flynn thinks he’s funny and irresistable at the same time, which everyone seemed to play for laughs.” Maren paused to take a sip of her coffee and catch her breath.

“And then there’s Elsa,” she added, subconsciously sighing wistfully at the mention of the blonde.

Mattias picked up on that and leaned back in his chair, smiling at what must be a crush for his partner. But before he could ask his usual ‘ _and?_ ’, Maren spoke again.

“She’s so cool, Mattias. She works with the penguins at the zoo, has this way with animals, and is so gracious. And smart. And funny, even if sometimes it felt like I was the only one who got her joke. She agreed to get coffee with me. As friends.” Was she incredibly excited about the chance to have a friend she got off on such a good foot with? Yeah. Did it sound like a crush? Possibly? Was there a crush? Maybe slightly. But not enough to ruin her chance.

And at that thought, she was struck with the inspiration for today’s text to the blonde. She set down her sandwich and pulled her phone out of her uniform pocket, pulling up Elsa’s text and typing out her message.

> **Maren:** louis, i think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

Elsa must have been on her lunch break as well, as Maren got a text in practically immediate reply.

> **Elsa:** how did you know that’s my fave movie?!?
> 
> **Maren:** it’s from a movie?
> 
> **Elsa:** have you not seen casablanca? how have you made it this far in life?
> 
> **Maren:** jk, i knew it was from a movie
> 
> **Maren:** even if i’ve never seen it
> 
> **Elsa:** watching it is a requirement of being my friend
> 
> **Maren:** raiders of the lost ark is mine
> 
> **Elsa:** my mom used to say i was named for elsa from the last crusade
> 
> **Elsa:** raiders is actually probably the superior film
> 
> **Maren:** what lab were you created in???
> 
> **Elsa:** a lady never reveals her secrets
> 
> **Maren:** don’t betray me to the nazis tho
> 
> **Elsa:** i would never
> 
> **Elsa:** and i’ve never done an austrian goodbye either 🇦🇹

If Maren had been eating anything, she probably would’ve choked a little bit in laughter at Elsa’s text, but thankfully she just chortled in a decidedly un-ladylike manner.

Good, Elsa’s humor last night was not a fluke, nor was it something brought on only by the wine. With her being this perfect, she had to be straight or something. At least, that’s what Maren was telling herself so she wouldn’t blow it.

\------🐧📱👮🏽‍♀️------

For Elsa, Sundays were among her favorite days at the zoo. Those were the days that Elsa and the rest of the Penguinarium staff did habitat and ID band check; and Elsa almost always ended up on band check, mostly because the penguins tended to follow her like moths to a flame, which made it easier to sift through the 80-member colony of penguins.

“Come on Bruni,” Elsa cooed to one of her favorite penguins, a macaroni penguin who never let Elsa out of his sight when she was in the enclosure. He had been at the zoo for a few years before Elsa had come, and one of the other penguin keepers said they all had been worried that he was depressed. But then Elsa had showed up and he was instantly smitten with her.

Bruni waddled along happily behind her as she walked, ignoring the other penguins who were huddled and staring at them. Once they got to the back of the habitat, Elsa opened the door and walked through, picking Bruni up once he was through the door to set him on the table in front of Kristoff. Part of this routine was not just checking the ID bands around Bruni’s wings, but taking a look at the whole penguin to check his health. The keepers did a fine job of it anyway, but this worked for the sake of convenience.

Kristoff smiled as Elsa set the little macaroni down on the table and started his exam. “So, you and Maren?” he asked nonchalantly while he worked. When it came to Kristoff, Elsa knew his questions and prying weren’t at all like how Anna or Rapunzel did it. Maybe because Kristoff was Elsa’s friend first, before even dating Anna, it endeared the blonde man to her a little more.

“We’re texting. And trying to make plans to hang out without the googly eyes of Anna and Rapunzel,” she replied with a small smile in tandem with Kristoff’s understanding nod.

“Olaf liked her.” It was a simple observation from Kristoff, but Elsa knew that was a really big point in Maren’s favor. Olaf was very typical of his breed in that he was extremely attached to Elsa and very protective of her, so his acceptance of a new potential friend was always something she considered.

Bruni tried to wiggle his way out of Kristoff’s hands to be fawned upon by Elsa, interrupting their conversation. Elsa then walked into the penguin’s eyesight to get him to stand still.

“I’m just glad she asked ‘as friends’, so I don’t have to have the whole ace convo and ruin things before they start,” she confided. Again, Kristoff nodded understandably, as he decided he was satisfied with Bruni’s health.

“He’s good to go. And you’ll be fine, Elsa. Don’t pay attention to Rapunzel’s meddling and just enjoy spending time with Maren.”

Carefully, Elsa scooped up the penguin and set him on the ground. Before she started walking Bruni back, she slipped out her cell phone and typed out a quick message to Maren.

> **Elsa:** my days off are wed and thurs, do either work for coffee?

And before she could wait for a response, a very insistent and needy Bruni bumped up against her leg to keep her walking.

“OK, OK, Bruni, I’m going,” she sighed playfully as she made her way back to the main penguin area to get her next charge.

\------🐧📱👮🏽‍♀️------

By Monday, Maren wasn’t sure that she could wait until Thursday for her coffee with Elsa. They had been texting everyday up to this point, and she was incredibly sick of her coworkers and their shit.

Today’s example had been that a couple of detectives from Vice – a duo by the name of Erik and Francis – had come by the precinct looking for a few uniformed bodies to help them on a bust, and Francis hadn’t even tried to mask his racist sneering at herself and Mattias. If it wouldn’t have gotten her suspended, she would’ve punched Francis, but Erik had pulled Francis away and Mattias had told her to ignore him.

Safe to say, they weren’t chosen to help, which probably saved Maren a lot more of a headache later. But it still riled her up, and she was still angrily sulking in hers and Mattias’s squad car when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

There were only three people she would’ve been willing to text after the day she’d been having, and she smiled slightly at seeing a message from Ryder.

> **Twin:** nokk wanted me to wish you a happy monday
> 
> **Twin:** _1 image attached_

When Maren opened the text, she was greeted with an image of Elsa cradling the face of the Fjord horse that resided at the zoo. She could tell that Elsa didn’t know the picture was being taken, and Maren narrowed her eyes at her brother’s thinly veiled attempt at setting the two of them up. Or at least, trying to get Maren to make a move on a woman she was sure was not looking for a date.

> **Maren:** creep
> 
> **Twin:** what? it was a nice pic!
> 
> **Maren:** you’re trying too hard, kiddo
> 
> **Twin:** or you’re not trying hard enough??
> 
> **Maren:** nope. the plan is for friends, not another trainwreck of a relationship
> 
> **Maren:** even if i doubt dating elsa would be a trainwreck
> 
> **Maren:** not that i’m thinking about it
> 
> **Maren:** at all

With finality, Maren locked her phone and frowned down at it, looking up when Mattias climbed back into the car, handing her a cup of coffee.

“You know, we dodged a bullet from Erik and Francis,” Mattias started, assuming her continued sour-ish mood was because of the earlier snubbing. “Francis’s the worst kind of cop anyway, you don’t want to work with him before you’ve made detective yourself.” At least that was a conversation that could cheer her up.

Just the idea of being able to soon take her detective’s exam dulled those assholes from her mind. She knew she could pass it, she continually studied and that damn college degree of hers had to be good for something, but more importantly it was exactly what she had wanted to do with her life from a young age.

“How does he still have a job?” she asked.

Mattias shrugged and took a sip of his coffee before answering Maren. “Rumor is that he’s got a powerful friend, and I suspect that he covers for Francis. And having a partner like Erik helps him look good too.”

She supposed that he was right, but it definitely didn’t smooth down her ruffled feathers. “It’s still horseshit,” she muttered. As she took a drink of her own coffee, her phone buzzed again and she pulled it out as Mattias started driving, smiling again when she saw Elsa had texted her.

> **Elsa:** i know you’re probably busy
> 
> **Elsa:** but did you know that the roman emperor caligula once tried to wage war on the god of the sea
> 
> **Elsa:** so he sent his soldiers to stab the sea
> 
> **Elsa:** that was his plan. stab the sea.

Maren let out a snort at reading Elsa’s text, highly amused at both the actual fact but that Elsa had just sent her something for a laugh. That they could text and get to know each other better when they were both done with work, but then it could branch into something as _wild_ as that without losing a step. The short, funny, irreverent texts were ideal for the work-day anyway, since she could respond to those with Mattias looking over her shoulder. And, in some roundabout way, the idea of Caligula’s men stabbing the sea reminded her of dealing with the assholes at work.

> **Maren:** who won?
> 
> **Elsa:** obviously, the sea
> 
> **Elsa:** but caligula declared victory?
> 
> **Maren:** like how rapunzel declared victory during drawful despite the scoreboard?
> 
> **Elsa:** exactly!

Seriously, Thursday could not come soon enough. She figured that Elsa wouldn’t add to the drag of what had happened in the week so far, and in fact it would be refreshing. 

\------🐧📱👮🏽‍♀️------

Rapunzel needed to learn how to not be so annoying. Even Anna, with her being completely invested in her hobby of ‘getting Elsa a girlfriend’ (which she claimed she had every right to do as a younger sister who was indebted to Elsa for introducing her to the love of her life – Anna’s words verbatim), at least understood how to back off a little. And Rapunzel, for all of her charms and the bond that she shared with Elsa, was about as subtle as a frying pan to the face in her meddling.

By Tuesday, Elsa had contemplated smothering her cousin, or something equally drastic to shut her up. Thankfully, Eugene had come to her rescue in taking Rapunzel out for dinner, leaving her alone with the dogs and Pascal, Rapunzel’s chameleon. She had dumped the bag of crickets that her cousin had left, and then she fed the dogs, before settling in her room with Monday’s leftover Chinese food and at least three episodes of _Killing Eve_ to tackle.

Well, more like only one episode in between thinking about her session with Gerda, her therapist, earlier that day. Gerda, predictably, had been almost as excited about Elsa’s upcoming lunch as Elsa was. It had been part of their goals for the new year (Gerda refused to call them “resolutions” so they would be more likely to be achieved at Elsa’s pace), and just the session prior she had been talking about Elsa needed to make friends outside of her work group or family.

And Gerda’s excitement was entirely different from that of Anna and Rapunzel. There had been plenty of sessions after a relationship had soured where Gerda understood exactly what Elsa continued to go through, even if she still remained optimistic whenever Elsa was.

Gerda had been the first person to truly see that for all of Elsa’s distancing, she didn’t want to be alone. Anna had projected that, and Rapunzel had been forcibly alone and miserable for so much of her life that being alone was unfathomable to her. But Gerda, Gerda knew that Elsa had had a rough time of things after her parents’ accident, which created distance that was unwanted, and therefore finally washed away. She just needed more of those friends before she could allow herself to think of anything more – but fine, that was more of Elsa’s personal limit versus Gerda’s recommendations.

Olaf and Maximus had both followed Elsa into her bedroom, and the Elkhound hopped up onto the bed with her while the German Shepherd laid on the rug next to her bed. As Elsa also settled on the bed, her dog snuggled himself close to her legs, familiar with this pattern of their life. With a mouth full of noodles, Elsa searched on her TV until she found what she was looking for, hitting play on the episode she left off at.

Every six to ten bites, Elsa distractedly held a vegetable for Olaf to gingerly remove from her fingers, or toss off the side of the bed for Maximus to catch in mid-air. An episode and a half later, her phone beeped to signal a text message. Distractedly, she reached for her phone and unlocked it, scrambling when she saw that the text was from Maren.

> **Maren:** i know i invited you to coffee
> 
> **Maren:** but would you consent to lunch as well?
> 
> **Elsa:** consent? that’s an awfully proper term coming from someone our age
> 
> **Maren:** like it? i thought it would impress you
> 
> **Elsa:** truthfully, i’m already impressed
> 
> **Maren:** so? lunch?
> 
> **Elsa:** lunch would be great. the perk of having the day off
> 
> **Maren:** i know the perfect spot. halima’s on crocus blvd.
> 
> **Elsa:** sounds great
> 
> **Maren:** is it weird that i have free time right now but i can’t focus on relaxing?
> 
> **Elsa:** want to talk about it? i’ve been told that i’m a good listener
> 
> **Elsa:** by anna mostly, but still, the offer’s there
> 
> **Maren:** i was on a study break, but i can’t stay focused on my notes
> 
> **Maren:** guess i’m just evaluating everything and probably overthinking things
> 
> **Elsa:** shut down studying for the night and rewatch something you know well. it’s a trick i learned while in college
> 
> **Maren:** and you clearly are successful enough, so it must work
> 
> **Maren:** i’m doing this purely on your ringing endorsement
> 
> **Elsa:** as long as you have an obsessive perfectionist streak that ensures you’ll ace whatever it is you’re studying for
> 
> **Maren:** detective’s exam. maybe not obsessive, but definitely competitive enough to want to be the best
> 
> **Elsa:** it’s interchangeable, obvs

By the time Elsa looked up from her phone, she saw that the end credits for that second episode she had been watching were crawling across the screen. With a sigh, she exited out of the app and turned off her TV, realizing that she wasn’t going to be paying attention to whatever insanity Eve and Villanelle were into.

With her phone slipped back into her pocket, she collected her plate and silverware to wander back into the kitchen, the dogs following hot on her heels after rousing themselves from their naps. As she started rinsing out her bowl, the front door opened and the dogs rushed to greet Eugene and Rapunzel. She didn’t want to get tripped up by the large animals, so she finished her task, only to be surprised at hearing Rapunzel’s voice come up behind her.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so crazy about the Maren thing,” Rapunzel immediately apologized, causing Elsa to turn around and look at her cousin with a grateful smile spreading across her face. Obviously Eugene must have said something to turn the lightbulb on in Rapunzel’s head, but Elsa didn’t care what made the other blonde apologize.

In answer, she just lurched forward and engulfed the woman in a hug. “I get it, Punzo, but you should be figuring this out by now. It’s only been like, what? Ten years?” Elsa replied. A textbook apology receipt. Acknowledge that Rapunzel apologized, but make sure she knew that all was not forgotten. _Make it a teaching moment_ – Elsa could hear Gerda’s voice coaching her.

Rapunzel, for her part, bobbed her head back and forth in a combination of nodding and comprehending each phrase with movement. “I know; I know you’ll find someone in time, Els. The problem is that I want to do everything I can to help you find what Eugene and I have. Without the frying pan and biker bar, of course,” the blonde explained, not really telling Elsa anything new, but still glad to hear it nonetheless.

“I know,” Elsa agreed.

The moment was broken up by Olaf coming in and squeezing his muzzle in the middle of the hug, clearly a cue to Elsa that it was time for them to go to sleep. Thank God for Olaf, as he was a dog of enough routine that he made sure Elsa ate and slept like a normal human being (including “forcing” her to nap on occasion). With his prompting, Elsa squeezed Rapunzel in a little closer of a hug.

“I love you,” she sighed.

“I love you more,” Rapunzel replied.

“I love you most,” they both chimed in together, the routine declaration being theirs (and Anna’s) consistent way of expressing what they meant to each other, and reclaiming something that used to be only harmful to Rapunzel.

With that, the pair pulled away and Elsa padded back to her room with Olaf at her side, taking her phone out of her pocket to see if Maren had responded.

> **Maren:** haha thnx
> 
> **Elsa:** you’re welcome. good night, maren
> 
> **Maren:** good night, elsa
> 
> **Maren:** and good night, olaf

The blonde felt a slightly dopey smile on her face as she read Maren’s message meant for her dog (Kristoff had been right, Olaf had taken a shine to Maren throughout the night). The rest of her night routine went by in a blur – as many routines do – until Elsa crawled into bed and Olaf settled himself in his crate in the corner of her room, and she grinned lazily up at the ceiling, excited for her days off.

It was that warm and happy feeling that carried her off to sleep.

\------🐧📱👮🏽‍♀️------

Hump Day was absolutely stupid, and the only benefit it had in Maren’s life was that it was the last day of her work week. Thankfully for her, the day had been quite busy. Which maybe wasn’t so good for the citizens of Arendelle, but there were plenty of emergencies and non-emergencies that got her mind off of everything.

She didn’t have to stress about her studying for the detective’s exam, she didn’t have to think about the incident with Erik and Francis, and she didn’t have time to think too much about tomorrow’s lunch with Elsa. There had been a few courtesy texts between them in the morning – both of them wishing the other a good day – but they both recognized that the other had a job that wasn’t conducive to being on their phones all day. And even though Elsa had the day off, Maren still had to work; Elsa seemed to respect that plenty in the five days they had been texting each other.

Maren and Mattias hopped from one call to the next, even going so far as to resort to eating fast food for lunch in their squad car. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket a few times throughout the day, but most of the texts had been from Ryder, and a few from her Aunt Yelana about what Maren could bring during their visit tomorrow. It wasn’t until the end of her shift when she saw an unread text from Elsa and clicked on it to read.

> **Elsa:** congrats, you’ve passed the hans test
> 
> **Maren:** hans test?
> 
> **Elsa:** a few years ago, anna swiped on this guy on tinder – hans – and they were texting for like 4 days before hans invited anna to run away with him
> 
> **Maren:** no! he didn’t!
> 
> **Elsa:** he did. and anna almost went, but thankfully she came to her senses before he took her to his serial killer farm
> 
> **Elsa:** i think he actually proposed to her
> 
> **Elsa:** via text
> 
> **Maren:** and here i thought lesbians moved fast
> 
> **Elsa:** haha exactly
> 
> **Elsa:** lesbians and anna

Unfortunately, Maren had to return to driving – Mattias let her have the wheel today – as they were ordered by dispatch to loiter somewhere else for a little bit. That movement seemed to shout out to the universe that they were ready to fight crime and pull kittens out of trees or something (which was the freaking hose jockeys’ job), and they were kept busy for the rest of their shift.

It wasn’t until Maren had gotten home and was practically passed out on top of her bed from a combination of exhaustion and food coma (eating half of a deep dish pizza by yourself would do that to you), when she rolled over and grabbed her phone, wanting to recapture the moment she and Elsa had had the night prior.

> **Maren:** see you tomorrow
> 
> **Elsa:** can’t wait
> 
> **Maren:** good night, elsa
> 
> **Maren:** good night, olaf
> 
> **Elsa:** good night, maren

If Maren was any kind of girl who was beyond anxiously awaiting for a not-date to happen, she would probably have a countdown on her phone leading up to when she said she would see Elsa tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know that these two reflect A LOT on how excited daily they are leading up to the meeting, since I wanted them to have the equivalent of first-date excitement from when you're chatting with someone you've connected with and things get more and more awesome. Especially since Elsa for one has had so few friends, if she finds a new one she gets really worked up, and Maren is coming out of her own work-related slump where a new friendship is revitalizing her. (I probably didn't need to explain that, but I still wanted to)
> 
> This chapter's filled with a few true things from my life. 
> 
> 1) The "Hans Test" actually happened to me. This girl that I met like twice and spoke to for less than five minutes got my number from a friend of mine (I only found out her name from some friends of hers that I had met) and texted me for like 4 days before inviting me away on a long weekend to the Thumb area. And when I kept trying to ghost her because I got creeped The Fuck™ out, she kept coming back like untreated herpes. And it lasted for like 3 months.  
> 2) the "rewatch something you know well" is a trick that I started using when I either had a panic attack or I started overthinking everything in my life. It's not really endorsed by a therapist, but considering my rewatch items are Disney movies ... it works for me.  
> 3) I think this is true of a lot of people, not just me, but my friends are very aggressive about trying to get me to go out with girls even though I have to keep explaining to them that I'm not personally ready to open myself up like that and that everything I've seen on dating apps makes me extremely nervous, being ace. – I actually want to know if this is true of other asexuals (or aromantics), mostly because I've struggled really hard at finding community both online and in the real world.


	5. Sweet Smile Steals My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Coffee/Lunch Not-Date is here! Finally! (according to Elsa and Maren)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, I said a chapter was coming like ages ago, but I'll be honest. I was 0% productive the other day and frankly I deserved it. And as for the other days, my muse took a cold shower and I've gone a wee bit cross-eyed from staring at the computer all day (my normal job is actually paper-based so I don't have to look at a screen full-time ... so this is new).
> 
> Also, I read somewhere that today is World Penguin Day, so I figured in honor of our favorite little penguin keeper ... this chapter finally!

Today was it. Thursday; Coffee and Lunch Day. Elsa had spent the entire week building up her confidence 

Their texts during the week had expanded the idea of coffee into lunch with coffee, and Elsa had timed it out perfectly with her planned workout. Planned just so Elsa would leave the gym after a shower and show up at the bakery Maren had invited her to so it would look like she effortlessly _breezed in_ complete with the post-gym glow.

At least, that was the plan.

The reality was more like Elsa had a compulsion for showing up anywhere early (she could hear Father’s and Grandfather’s stern voices in chorus reciting ‘ _early is on-time, on-time is late, and late means you’re fired_ ’ each time she checked her watch), and that compounded with the energy bubbling under her skin like an artesian well had left her workout less satisfying than she would have liked.

Which left Elsa sitting inside Halima’s Bakery twenty minutes before the agreed-upon time to meet. And hungry. But she didn’t want to be rude and eat before Maren showed up, even if the woman behind the counter kept on eyeing her like Anna stared at chocolate cake when she couldn’t eat it yet.

Elsa refused to check her phone or her watch for the twenty sixth time (she counted), and her braid was as perfect as she could make it. She thought about getting up and heading to the bathroom, but she suddenly worried that this place was like Starbucks and you had to be a paying customer to use it. It was ridiculous, that she was getting nervous, but she also understood _why_ she was getting nervous. She’d discussed it with Gerda during the week, that she’d always been focused on making a good impression, and since this was the beginning of something (Game Night excluded), Elsa’s brain treated this the same way most people treated a job interview or public speaking. “Maren invited you, you have nothing to be nervous about,” she murmured to herself, repeating it like a mantra, just like she had been taught.

Her brain focused on that, and it did its job in calming her down. And thankfully, after a few murmurances, Elsa looked up when the shop’s bell rang and smiled when she saw Maren walk in. Maren walked over to her, stopping at the table and greeting Elsa. “Am I late? I swear I left in plenty of time to get here, and traffic didn’t seem bad …” Maren started to ramble, cut off when Elsa shook her head. 

“Oh, no, you’re not late,” the blonde reassured, suddenly relieved at not being the only person who was nervous and/or rambling, “I have a tendency to be really early. A gift from my father and grandfather, one that was not passed on to my sister.” Mentioning Anna and her penchant for tardiness helped the smile grow on her face and dismiss thinking about the source of her habit.

Maren chose not to sit down, instead she slipped off her hoodie and placed it on the chair opposite Elsa, claiming it. Taking the cue that they’d go up and order (thankfully, as her stomach was about to protest very loudly if they didn’t), Elsa slipped off her sweater and placed it on the table. When she stood up, the pair didn’t really know what to do for a greeting – a handshake seemed too formal after Game Night, yet a hug was too familiar for Elsa, and a wave was just weird standing this close together – but Maren saved the moment by gallantly gesturing Elsa towards the counter.

Following the instruction, Elsa stepped around the table and started walking in tandem with Maren. “So, why were you ‘late’?” Elsa teased, making air-quotes with her fingers around the word _late_. Elsa was trying to be as outgoing as she had been during game night, and she didn’t want the _effort_ to show. 

Maren caught the tease and chuckled in response. “I was visiting my aunt,” the brunette explained, which earned a softening of Elsa’s teasing smile. “And, even though you are a total stranger to her, she says hello,” Maren added. Which didn’t surprise Elsa, because if the woman was anything like Maren, who brought wine and beer to a stranger’s house, and also invited someone she just met out for coffee, then of course saying hello to a person she never met would make complete sense. And, even if Elsa hadn’t met Maren’s aunt either, it felt nice to get such a greeting.

Halima’s wasn’t a large place, so they were at the counter almost immediately, and Elsa’s eyes started sizing up both the menu and what was displayed. Maren, realizing that Elsa would need a moment to scrutinize everything, went ahead and ordered first – her “usual”, which clued Elsa in that this was a place Maren loved, much like how Elsa loved Oaken’s – and the pleasant woman behind the counter waited patiently for Elsa to make up her mind. “Uh, I’ll have the turkey melt, with a hot chocolate, thank you,” she ordered, starting to reach into her purse for her wallet when Maren snuck past with a credit card and paid for their orders.

“No coffee?”

Elsa shook her head. “No, coffee and I tend to not agree,” she explained, her right hand subconsciously rubbing at where her heart was at the memory of the Coffee Incident.

Thankfully, Maren didn’t pry further. “You don’t drink coffee and I don’t drink alcohol. We must drive everyone else our age crazy,” she chuckled, which earned a giggle from Elsa in return. Instead of standing and waiting around awkwardly for their food, Maren guided them back towards the table that Elsa had snagged. As if hearing Elsa’s question before she asked it, “Halima’ll be begging for an excuse to come and check on us anyway,” Maren explained, before realizing she needed to explain at least one more thing, “She’s the partner of my work-partner, Mattias.”

The last piece of the puzzle clicking into place, the blonde nodded her head in understanding. “Sounds like Oaken. He owns my favorite restaurant, and he’s been a friend for ages. Like an uncle, practically,” she explained.

At the mention of Oaken, Maren looked at Elsa as if she was seeing her for the first time.

“This is going to sound super weird,” Maren blurted out, “but did you take a girl on a date to Oaken’s like a month ago? Kinda dainty, strawberry blonde, with a drunk ex-husband?”

And when Maren asked the question, Elsa’s brain put a few more pieces together about her new friend. Maren was a cop, Maren was related to Ryder – Ryder _Nattura_ – and Maren did look suspiciously like the gorgeous cop Elsa had remembered from the nightmare date with Ella at Oaken’s. “Oh god,” she murmured to no one in particular.

“It’s _you_ ,” Elsa and Maren both blurted out at the same time.

How had Elsa not noticed this earlier? How had Maren not noticed it before?

When they realized how blind they had been, the pair of them erupted into giggles, suddenly not so embarrassed that they had forgotten. Not only that, but all of Elsa’s nerves had dissipated as well. 

As her giggles subsided, she smiled at Maren. “What a small world.”

“That’s gotta be like your absolute Worst First Date story,” Maren joked. “I mean, I’m biased to like cops but even I wouldn’t want them to show up when you’re trying to woo a girl,” she laughed. 

It had been incredibly embarrassing in the moment, but she and Ella had been doing okay in the weeks since then, at least as friends could be. And maybe a little more bordering on acquaintances, since Ella had been throwing herself in anything else rather than letting herself be embarrassed in front of Elsa, or admitting to the vulnerability. But Maren didn’t want to hear about that (at least, not in too much detail).

“More like Top 5?” Elsa replied with a questioning tone (even if she knew the answer) and another giggle. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

Maren was shocked – _shocked!_ – that their first meeting wasn’t the top of the list, but she played along. “I was supposed to meet this girl for a date and I’d already been pretty open about my job, mostly to explain my hours to her. I was waiting out front and saw her pull up. But, she hit another car while she was parking, and sped off without saying a word,” she regaled.

Elsa covered her suddenly-gaping mouth of surprise – possibly attempting to hold in laughter – being thankful that it hadn’t been her, because she would have been absolutely mortified if she had been either party of the story. It probably stung a little more that Maren was a cop and – “did you report the hit and run?” she asked.

The brunette nodded. “I couldn’t just not report it. Especially since it was pretty clear I’d never see that girl again,” now she was chuckling. It was a terrible story, but Maren had enough sense of humor to not let it get her down. 

And, in recognition of their deal, Elsa responded with her own worst story. “My appendix burst in the middle of the date. And my date simply drove me to the emergency room and dropped me off, didn’t even wait to see if I was going to be taken care of, didn’t even text and see how I was doing.” True to what the story required, Maren looked absolutely offended at the story. “Not even to be fair, but I’m pretty sure she thought I was faking the whole thing to not have sex with her, since she basically invalidated me the entire night,” Elsa continued. 

Maren couldn’t even formulate a response to that story, since it definitely sucked more than was embarrassing. Seeing that, Elsa shrugged her shoulders, clearly used to something of the sort from people. “What happened, happened,” was all Elsa said in response, like her personal motto was to let things like that go.

“Sounds like you dodged a bullet there,” Maren finally grinned, trying to be reassuring. 

Elsa seemed to either pick up on it, or truly have not dwelled on it and only brought up the story at parties, since she smiled back. “Yeah. And since you showed up, that date with Ella definitely couldn’t qualify as the worst date,” Elsa shot back. _Oh God_ , now that sounded too much like a date-thing to say. “I mean, because now we wouldn’t have this funny story to start our friendship,” she clarified in a rush. _Phew_ , she saved the moment.

Maren caught on and continued smiling, not able to knock the truth of the matter. At that moment, however, the conversation was saved by virtue of it being put on pause, thanks to Halima appearing as if out of thin air to place their drinks and sandwiches on the table between the two of them, but not without giving Maren a look that Elsa could figure out well enough (it wasn’t dissimilar to the type of look Rapunzel or Anna gave her when they wanted her to be interested in someone). The woman left it at that and walked away, leaving the two alone.

As soon as Halima disappeared, Elsa giggled at Maren’s facial response. “You too?” she asked, “Rapunzel seems incapable of believing that lesbians can be ‘just friends’.”

Maren’s brain caught up with and registered Elsa’s words, and she burst out into laughter as well. “I know! It’s either that or they just ‘care too much’,” she teased with a pair of air-quotes, exacerbating Elsa’s laughter. “I know the stereotypes can be a little bit true, but really?”

With a final smile and chuckle, Elsa reached for her hot chocolate and held it up in a toast. “To meddling,” she teased, and Maren grabbed her coffee and mirrored the motion before they both took a sip.

\------🐧👮🏽‍♀️------

A few hours later, they had eaten their sandwiches and drained their beverages (plus a refill or two for Elsa), and not come close to trailing off in conversation until Maren’s phone beeped. “One sec,” she paused Elsa mid-thought and reached for her phone. Unlocking it quickly, Maren read the message, which turned out to be from her brother.

> **Twin:** don’t forget groceries

Frowning momentarily, Maren forgot that she had to use her day off for more productive things than just visiting her aunt; she had been enjoying her time with Elsa so much. Her initial impressions from game night had cemented as being accurate, and she could see how Ryder had latched onto her, even if she didn’t give off an extremely warm vibe.

“Everything okay?” Elsa asked, drawing Maren’s attention back away from the text. She must have seen the frown and figured something to be actually wrong.

In reassurance, Maren nodded her head. “Oh, yeah. I just forgot that I’m on errand duty today since it’s my day off and Ryder’s at work. Which means that, unfortunately, I should get going. I didn’t realize how long we’d been here.”

Reaching for her own phone and glancing at the time, Elsa let out a small gasp at the time that had passed. “Shit!” she cursed quietly, as she started grabbing her things to leave. Thankfully, Maren was doing the same, and once they were both putting the finishing touches on getting ready to go, they both stood up at the same time.

Before Maren could say anything, Elsa beat her to the goodbye. “I’ll see you and Ryder tomorrow at Game Night? It’s at Anna and Kristoff’s.”

All the brunette could do was nod. Even if she hadn’t had any other plans, she definitely wouldn’t miss Game Night.

“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow,” the blonde bid her farewell, turning from her chair and towards the door. However, Elsa paused, as if she had forgotten something and just remembered before it was lost forever. She turned around, and, “and by the way, next one’s on me. I saw what you pulled back there at the counter,” she smirked over her shoulder before walking away with a wave.

If it were anyone else, Maren would’ve been standing there, flabbergasted at the whirlwind. Technically, she still was standing there, flabbergasted, but it was … it was not a terrible feeling.

Besides, Maren was going to be seeing Elsa tomorrow, and that thought made things better. Even if she had to go and ruin the rest of her day with the mundanity of errands and chores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, this was not my favorite chapter. Not because the actual subject of it is bad (I've been very excited about the Coffee Not-Date), but because of how drained I've been this past week (plus some), I ran out of steam to continue it beyond a certain point and I feel like I can tell the exact point that demarcates pre-drain and post-drain.
> 
> I originally had an entirely different scene in mind for them finding out their true first meeting, but this came up as I was writing it so naturally that I couldn't resist. And, it helped set these two up as Useless Lesbian Friends instead of going straight into swooning over each other, because a good laugh helps do such a thing!


	6. Long Dark Deep Stare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some workplace fluff with a pinch of other people assuming that Elsa and Maren are together (or not believing that they're not dating)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a crappy month plus some, I got a motivation block, which in my opinion is much worse than writer's block. And because of that, and the slight writer's block that then caused, I'm going to jump ahead a bit in this. Not that it actually changed the plot or flow of things, it just adds time to it
> 
> I needed this semi-useless chapter more to set a 'we're not dating but everyone is treating us like we are' kind of deal for them. And, it's starring people NOT Anna/Rapunzel/Kristoff/Flynn/Ryder because they both needed more friends AND I wanted it to be even clear to ~strangers (ie, not the group)

Roll call was the best and worst part of Maren’s day, since it was the time that she was able to see any other officers who weren’t Matias, other than at the end of shift when they were all changing in the locker rooms and more excited about the rest of their days.

Unfortunately, listening to Sergeant Calhoun go through the daily briefing and give out assignments was enough to make Maren want to fall asleep standing up.

“As usual, please keep an eye out for the Stabbington brothers and their associates, we have received more reports –” the sergeant’s voice faded into the background, Maren’s attention diverted by the nudge into her left arm.

Turning her head, Maren smiled slightly at her friend, Officer Li. “Sleeping on the job?” he whispered teasingly.

Maren responded with a scoffing chuckle. “Just like you,” she shot back under her breath. 

After the incident with Erik and Francis two months ago, Mattias had tried to make it a point to find other officers that Maren might like, and making introductions. One of them had been Officer Li – Shang – and he was probably the more enjoyable of the officers to talk to. His girlfriend, Mulan, worked at a different precinct – he had transferred out when they started dating, in some idea of nobility or avoiding the idea of workplace romance.

Whatever fueled it, it worked out for Maren. 

“Nattura and Mattias, you’re patrolling the parks today,” Sergeant Calhoun’s bark of a voice cut through their teasing, causing Maren to shrug with a gleeful and (maybe) slightly smug smile.

“Lucky,” Shang murmured in jealousy.

Park duty was the best easy route they could get. They got to be outside for most of the day, occasionally popping in the various stores and restaurants that bordered Arendelle’s impressive public parks system. The parks meant that civilians would be happy and relaxed, unlikely to cause trouble, and if they were responding to a call, it would be something like a medical emergency or something lost; not that those were fun or easy, but those were the kinds of work that Maren found the most rewarding.

And, park duty meant that they had an excuse to hang out near the zoo, which meant she could at least chance a glance at Elsa or her brother while they were working. Not to mention, the best hot dog cart in all of Arendelle was almost always on park patrol, and every cop in the city knew it. It was a jackpot of a beat, that was for sure.

Thankfully, Maren didn’t have to sit and wait for much longer, as Calhoun barked out a “dismissed!” that got every officer and detective in the briefing room to stand up and calmly hurry the hell up.

Shang, ever the gentleman, waited for Maren to stand up before doing the same himself. “Our usual dinner after shift?” he queried. Much like how Maren and Ryder did Game Night every week with Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Rapunzel, and Eugene, Maren and Shang had dinner with Mulan and the precinct’s civilian desk clerk Belle in the same vein. “Invite Elsa too, the more the merrier,” he added.

It was an idea, and not a bad one at that. In the months since that first not-date, Elsa and Maren had hung out quite a bit, which had in fact been a catalyst for Maren befriending Shang, Mulan, and Belle, and even reconnecting with some of the other friends that she had let fall by the wayside with her old shifts.

Everyone else still kept sending them smug looks that somehow all translated to ‘just ask her out already’, but they were all being assholes who had no respect for gay friendship.

“Of course. And fine, I’ll invite her,” Maren agreed, her tone sounding more grudging than she actually felt.

However, she couldn’t continue the conversation, as her gaze caught Mattias’s at the door and she knew that her partner wouldn’t wait for her to finish socializing. “Don’t get shot, Shang,” she cautioned him in parting, before walking over to Mattias with a wider grin. “We got the parks!”

Mattias grinned as he followed her out. “Hot dogs or the zoo for lunch?”

Oh man, what a day she was going to have, if that was her hardest decision.

\------🐧👮🏽‍♀️------

“Bruni, stop fighting with Gale!” Elsa shouted in exasperation, trying to distract the macaroni and gentoo penguin with the bucket of fish she had in her hand. Unfortunately, the penguins were too committed to their beaking to listen to her, even with the fish in her hands. She had been on feeding duty today, and apparently her decision to toss a fish before Gale, the gentoo penguin so speedy he flew like the wind, and her admirer macaroni Bruni had been enough of an offense for the penguins to act like they were fighting over the same female.

Thankfully the squawking had not devolved the entire habitat into chaos, since Marshmallow the king penguin and the small waddle of rockhoppers she had nicknamed the Snowgies were more than happy to use Gale and Bruni’s distraction as a way to get food from Elsa before them. As Elsa tossed the fish and watched each penguin snag them mid-air, she kept one eye on the fighting penguins in case of injury.

By the time the last Snowgie had snapped up its fish, Bruni and Gale had stopped fighting, no clear victor between them. And when Elsa tossed them their fish, the offending penguins had waddled over for their ration. If they were children – which they were acting like – Elsa would’ve scolded them and withheld dessert, but they were only penguins, and it would be cruel to withhold food. And unreasonable to boot. With a sigh, she tossed out a fish for each of them.

“You boys,” she shook her head, finishing her feeding and shooing them away from her. Once all of them had indeed toddled off, the blonde turned and walked back through the habitat. Slipping out the door, she set the bucket down with the others before walking further into the keepers’ area. “Gale and Bruni were at it again,” she informed Greta, one of the other keepers.

“I guess we just keep our eyes on them, and call Dr. Bjorgman if one of them gets injured, like always,” the young blonde sighed. With a colony of penguins as large as they had, conflicts were bound to happen, especially when one involved was the very-attached Bruni.

Elsa nodded her head in agreement. “Exactly.” She walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet, starting to wash her hands. “I’m heading to lunch now, want me to grab you anything?” the blonde offered. Looking over her shoulder, Elsa saw Greta shake her head, which was enough answer for Elsa.

When she finished, she walked out of the Penguinarium, the warmth and light of the sun momentarily blinding her. Normally, she would try and see if Kristoff was available for lunch, or even go over to the petting zoo to spend time with Ryder, but being hit in the face with it being a beautiful day suddenly made Elsa want to just walk around.

Which was what she was doing, when she spotted a familiar brunette leading a large group of children towards the butterfly house. Changing direction, Elsa walked up to the group, smiling at Jane – the Zoo’s Education Coordinator – in greeting.

“Oh Elsa!” Jane greeted. “Children, how would you like to meet one of our zookeepers?”

At the idea of meeting a real-life zookeeper, the children’s attention snapped back to the Brit before all eyes were glued to Elsa. A cacophony of ‘hello’ and ‘you’re a zookeeper?’ and ‘what animal?’ bombarded her, almost intimidating and frightening the blonde, if it weren’t for the reassuring hand Jane preemptively put on her shoulder. The gesture reassured Elsa, and she widened her smile.

They (plus Gerda) had been working on this, getting Elsa more comfortable about speaking in front of crowds of strangers. It was part of how Elsa and Jane had become friends in the past two months.

“My name is Elsa,” she started, the questions something she had been training herself to get used to in the past few months. “And yes, I am one of the keepers of the penguins, over at the Penguinarium. If you all listen to Ms. Porter, when you guys get over there, you could maybe give me a call and I’ll tell you all about the penguins,” Elsa smiled. The children immediately seemed receptive to the idea, pleading eyes turned to Jane, who beamed over at Elsa in return.

“Yes, that is a capital idea!” she exclaimed, drawing a giggle from some of the children at her utter British-ness. “Now come along children, into the butterfly house you go,” Jane shooed the children, watching for stragglers as their teacher led them. With the herd on the move, Jane surreptitiously turned to Elsa. “My father is in town next week, and he wants to have dinner with as much of the Zoo staff as he can. Something about ‘ensuring his investment in conservation’,” she warned.

When Dr. Archimedes Q. Porter showed up, it was all hands on deck to impress the man, as he was the Zoo’s greatest benefactor.

“You should bring Maren. Father is insisting everyone bring a plus one …” Jane trailed off, already knowing that Elsa was probably about to retort with something about them not dating. “Yes, I know, I know. You two aren’t together. That isn’t the point. Think of it as a built-in escape from my father and the others.”

Okay, Jane had Elsa there.

With a sigh, Elsa shrugged her shoulders in acquiescence. “Fine, I’ll invite her,” she quickly gave in.

If Jane’s smug grin was anything to go by, Elsa may have thought that she was just set up to bring Maren as a date somewhere. But, Jane’s smug grin also was part of Jane’s natural … British-ness, so it was a coin flip either way.

How was Elsa going to pull this off, without sending the wrong signals to her friend?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this like 60% written and then I spiraled into binging episodes of Outlander, so I deeply apologize.


End file.
